German photography award for JDS3 photo essay

The German science photography award is given annually by the magazine “bild der wissenschaft” and the press office Brendel. The photo essay “Joint Danube Survey 3” was done by André Künzelmann, a staff photographer of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), in close cooperation with scientists around Werner Brack last summer during the sampling work of JDS3.

“The photographer has succeeded in capturing the many aspects of scientific work in this essay: plants, dead fish, plastic buckets and Wellington boots are equally convincing ingredients of research as the sophisticated laboratory on board for analysing samples. The composition of the photos invites the observer to learn more about the river expedition”, say the judges of the photo competition.

Constant pressure not to miss the right moment

„I am delighted about this award, especially as this essay was a particular logistic challenge”, says Mr Künzelmann, himself a meteorologist by training, who specialised in science photography during the past decade. “Effectively, I had only two days to get an overview on site, and I did not know the crew beforehand. With the tight schedule of the scientists, where every moment was planned out, additional questions and wishes from an ‘outside’ like me requires a degree of mutual understanding. As a photographer, you are under constant pressures in such a situation, because you don’t want to miss the best moments and you may have to catch them under difficult light situations.”

The Joint Danube Survey is the world’s largest river expedition. It catalyses international cooperation from the 14 main Danube Basin countries and the European Commission, united through the ICPDR. A Joint Danube Survey is carried out only once every six years – JDS1 was in 200,1 JDS2 in 2007, JDS3 in 2013 with results to be published soon.

The ICPDR congratulates Mr. Künzelmann for this award in recognition of his exceptional work, thanks the JDS3 crew for their support and is very happy to have contributed to this success. Below, you can see a selection of Mr. Künzelmann's award-winning work accompanying JDS3.